L.A. WINELINE ANOTHER ROTHSCHILD MAGNUM OPUS.

Byline: LARRY LIPSON

When the entire production -- currently up to around 300,000 bottles -- is virtually sold out year after year and the current retail price is around $160 per bottle, you wouldn't think a winery would bother asking a wine writer like me to taste its wines.

Guess it's something to do with pride.

Anyway, I find myself sitting recently at a new Westside restaurant, with Opus One winemaker Michael Silacci and two other Opus One representatives, sipping seven vintages of the Mondavi-Rothschild joint venture (now Constellation-Rothschild) claret dating back to the first one produced, the 1979.

It just so happens that I tasted the `79 back when it was first introduced with much hype at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco in 1984 along with Opus One's 1980.

I was one of the few that day who voiced a preference for this premium Bordeaux-style red wine over the '80 vintage. It seemed less Californian in style, being more delicate, more elegant, better balanced, certainly not as robust as the '80.

And I managed to secure a bottle, getting both Baron Phillippe Rothschild and Robert Mondavi to sign their names on the label, in exchange with the late Baron for an autographed copy of my Los Angeles restaurant guide book.

It was a pretty good deal because my book sold at that time for $3.95. I still have that bottle, unfortunately now empty, having enjoyed it several years ago at a home dinner party.

Today, the '79 is slightly musty on the nose, but quite drinkable, and though it appears to have lost some of its fruitiness, it retains a sort of noble delicacy.

The 1985 Opus One, the first vintage co-directed by Chateau Mouton Rothschild winemaker Patrick Leon (with Tim Mondavi), and often praised as the best of the '80s, continues to possess smoothness and suppleness, definitely the right structure and balance to make it an outstanding wine to pair with any red-meat dish.

Both the '91 and '95 display characteristics of Opus One quality and evenness, but it's the `97 that portrays the loveliness, the all-round facets of bouquet, flavor, texture and finish, that make a great wine.

It's the one I'd pick out as the star of the seven, though the 2001, with its touches of richness, looks like it may eventually match or even surpass the '97, and the somewhat contrasting 2002, sans an iota of flab and a hint of earthiness, that also would seem to have a prolonged and renowned life.

The latest two are the work of current winemaker Silacci, who says about his wines, ``We like character, but we want them to be well-behaved.''

At around $160 per bottle, Michael, they'd better be.

Opus One is available at Woodland Hills Wine Co., 22622 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills, [phone]: 2002 for $160, 2001 for $170, 2000 for $150, 1999 for $175, 1995 for $200.

Information: [phone] or www.opusonewinery.com.

NEW RELEASES: More screwcaps. Hogue Cellars from Washington state has released three $9 whites sealed with screwcaps: a 2004 chardonnay, a 2005 riesling and a 2005 pinot grigio. Information: www.hoguecellars.com. ... Two Sonoma County 2005 sauvignon blancs have hit the shelves. The Rodney Strong version ($14) is called Charlotte's Home and is 45 percent Alexander Valley grapes, and the Huntington bottling ($14) utilizes 25 percent Alexander Valley grapes. Also from Huntington is the 2005 chardonnay ($14). Information: Rodney Strong: [phone] or www.rodneystrong .com. Huntington: [phone] or www.huntingtonwine.com.

Larry Lipson, [phone]

larry.lipson(at)dailynews.com